Empty Memories
by sbyamibakura
Summary: The many sins he had committed in his time, whether willing or not, had led him to this place and time now, locked in this dark and lonely grave. KenseiHiro. Part V of the Empty Series.


Empty Memories

By: D.A Cirle

Disclaimer: Heroes is owned by Tim Kring, I only own this story and make no profit from this, other than my own pleasure.

Warning: Rated M for language, mentions of slash, etc.

Feedback/Archive: Feedback is good. If you want to archive this story, email me to ask. I am very agreeable. D

Pairing: None, mentions of one-sided? Kensei/Hiro

Setting: End of S2/Beginning of Season 3 and set right before Empty Grave. Part V of the Empty series.

Summary: The many sins he had committed in his time, whether willing or not, had led him to this place and time now, locked in this dark and lonely grave.

Four hundred plus years had given him a unique perspective on life. He had learned many things, had stayed stubbornly firm on some things and had been humbled as well. He would never have been anything of importance if it hadn't been for Hiro. He hadn't lied when he said that the time-traveler was his inspiration, just as much as he hadn't lied when he had told Hiro with all honesty that he had been more than a friend to him.

Seeing Hiro kiss Yaeko had to have been worse than anything else he could possibly have felt, deeper than the sharpest sword. Hiro had figuratively cut out his heart and ate it for lunch.

Four hundred years, after picking up his skeletal and blackened frame from the wreckage of White Beard's camp and healing—in the body at least, had given him a long time to think; crazy thoughts and sane thoughts and always thinking of the one who betrayed him; the one who he was in love with.

When he realized what he had first felt, so long ago, he had been quite surprised, but had figured that it wouldn't be too hard to persuade the lad, he had seemed very eager and excited everytime he was near him. But then his little carp kisses Yaeko, who was the one he was _supposed _to love, but didn't, and shatters his dreams out from under him.

So he had over four hundred years to dwell on the betrayal and it put many dark thoughts in his head, helping him to put him in the situation he was in now, six feet under in a grave, all alone. It had been his gullibility, having been willing to trust people again, that helped to put him in here.

Taking those poor, confused souls under his wing, showing them that they could do something of themselves that led to this. Being heroes wasn't enough for some people. Their egos grow with their greed and he became the scapegoat for them; make him take the blame and the fall, all the while it had been their plan to release the virus and create more.

He wasn't sure whose idea it had been, but one of them—Angela, Bob, Linderman, whoever, had Parkman carry out the plan, putting the thought into his head to get the virus, release the virus and take the blame for it, all the while with them standing back and ready to cause more mayhem. He knew all of these things while he was doing them; in other situations he felt somewhat like himself, being able to take control of his own actions, but the virus had been the only thought in his mind for so long now, so he could see many of the things he was doing, but he couldn't stop them.

The many sins he had committed in his time, whether willing or not, had led him to this place and time now, locked in this dark and lonely grave.

He couldn't tell how much time had passed, other than it had probably been long enough to die from lack of food and water. He made a sort of routine in there; sleeping for as long as he could possibly sleep at a time, then making tiny marks on top of the wood above him with his fingernails when he woke up and he would hum the English songs of his youth, the dirty ones from other samurai, even the lullabies his mum had sung to him as a baby.

And every so often he would yell out, yell until his voice went hoarse, yell for his carp, not registering the fact that he would yell out 'koi' in every few words. There were times when tears would fall against his will and for the first time in a very, very, very long time, he felt like that he wanted to die.

This torture was worse than anything else that could have happened. Hiro having been the one who put him here was even worse.

He gets jerked out of sleep by a sound coming from above him. He couldn't see anything, but it sounded like digging. He kept the faint feeling of hope from getting too big, not wanting to be utterly disappointed. He waits, minutes, hours, however long and jumps in surprise as the coffin door jerks open and he gets a glimpse of the moon glistening in the sky as he gets pulled up by an unseen force upward and past a large pile of dirt.

He sees a dark haired man with a hand outstretched, standing next to a petite blonde haired girl. He lands on the ground in front of them with a thump. He sits up and looks warily at the two.

"And who might you two be? I suppose I need to thank who helped me out of that box."

The girl walks up, kneeling in front of him and smiling at him.

"I'm Claire and that—" She points to the dark haired man. "Is Sylar, we're here to help you, free your mind from what Matt's father did to you."

"But how—?" How did they know? She shakes her head.

"Doesn't matter how he know. What we do know is that what Parkman did affected your whole brain, that—and the fact that they injected you with a extremely mutated strain of the virus, affecting you just long enough so Parkman could get the thought into your head before the virus wore off—and leaving the thought implanted in your head." She says.

The man, Sylar, speaks up. "We've learned that if we inject you with Claire's blood, then we can undo the damage that was caused, because her blood is different than yours, although you both have the ability to regenerate and heal the same way."

Adam, once called Kensei, sees the girl with a syringe full of blood and lets out a faint gasp as she plunges it in his arm. He closes his eyes and for the first time in a long time, felt the fog lifting and felt like himself again. He opens his eyes to find Sylar and Claire both gone. He starts to sit up on his elbows, hearing footsteps coming towards him and quietly mutters the first thing that comes to him;

"Kuso!"

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A/N: This was written in my notebook out of the blue, minus a few edits here and there (but I always self edit myself). I was going to do something else, but this little baby came out and I figured it would be good to have a little reflecting from Kensei, get a little glimpse of his thoughts in the grave.

The next part of the Empty series will probably be Kensei/Hiro. I'm feeling all obsessed with that pairing at the mo' and I will probably enter some pieces in the fic-a-thon going on at swordmates on livejournal, which I am proud to say I am a member of. (Well you have to join to be able to post things on there. D)

Keep reading and reviewing!

--D.A

By the way…did anyone else notice when Kensei is screaming in that grave that he said 'koi'? I'm pretty sure that he says 'koi' after he says carp twice like;

Carp! Carp! Koi! Carp! Let me out---etc…

Also…Why is it that no one has put up the thought that Kensei could have been controlled by Matt's dad? Maybe because he can regenerate, sure, but we've seen that minds can be affected even if you CAN regenerate, like how long it took for Peter to remember everything, all the while having the ability to regenerate.

Just putting it out there…But it seems like I am the first person to put up a fic/or a thought that Kensei could have been controlled by Parkman, not the other way around.

And another thing; if Angela Petrelli was so dead set against the virus then why would she work with Linderman to virtually wipe out New York's population? It's the same thing, just on a smaller scale—and probably just to start off with.

Perhaps Angela and Linderman would have just used Nathan later on (if he hadn't been killed by Sylar, or else try and use Sylar not knowing it was him) as a scapegoat. Or perhaps she was/is waiting to use Nathan as a scapegoat as they did with Adam.

It just seems a lot more open to me, figuring these things out. Because I think that they manipulated Adam so much, whether with Matt's dad's ability or not and was ready to set him up and take the blame once this happened. So Nathan could have ended up like Adam could have.

Many scenarios and I believe that Adam was manipulated to do what he was trying to do; like I said above; it's been proven that even regenerative minds can be affected by powers, as Peter couldn't remember anything for a very long while, what's to say that they didn't put the thought in Adam's head to release the virus? A convenient scapegoat.

Couldn't Adam-Kensei have been warring within himself? After all—he had plenty of time to release the virus (he had just been looking at stuff within the vault) but he didn't. He didn't release it until Hiro was going to teleport him, which I think speaks volumes, because it wasn't like KENSEI had to worry about the virus, but Hiro did. And Kensei Adam only released it when they were going.

But enough babbling…

Read and Review!

--D.A


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